Apple Crunch Muffins

My morning breakfast routine is anything but, exciting. Between the usual oatmeal with flaxseeds, or cereal, there is nothing to look forward to. Well, almost nothing, but for the occasional muffins. What I like about them muffins is, they are perfectly sized, not too sweet, can be made healthy and most of all tastier than the blah oatmeal. So once in a while, I treat myself with this something special. The regulars so far have been blueberry muffins for breakfast (because I get my fruit serving) and banana muffins for evening tea.

After reading this tip, I always have organic apple sauce on hand. I try to balance out the fat in any recipe by using applesauce + whole eggs or oil + egg whites. By the way, if you haven’t tried applesauce yet, do try ‘em. You won’t miss the fat. If ½ cup of applesauce can make such a soft, fat-free muffin, it made me wonder how muffins solely made with it would taste and feel like. I searched the internet, combined two recipes that I found interesting and voila, perfect low-fat breakfast muffins.

What I like about these muffins is that they freeze well. Not only are they delicious eaten warm, the applesauce takes care of the softness even after freezing. Microwaving them for few seconds brings them back to life with the same delicate texture. I make at least a dozen of this, that I can escape oatmeal for few mornings to come.

Oh! How can forget to mention the crunchy cinnamon-y topping that makes it a real treat!

Ingredients

Muffin

All purpose flour or Maida – 2 cups
Applesauce – 1 cup
Buttermilk or Milk – ¾ cup
Eggs – 2
Sugar or Brown sugar – ¾ cup
Canola oil- ¼ cup
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
Golden Delicious Apple - 1, peeled, cored and cut into small cubes (optional)

Nut Crunch Topping

Brown sugar – 2 tbsp
Pecan – ¼ cup, chopped
Cinnamon – ½ tsp, ground

Method

Preheat the oven 400F. Mix the ingredients for the topping in a bowl. Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin cups. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk oil and sugar until combined. Add the eggs. Making sure the eggs are well incorporated, add applesauce and vanilla extract. To this wet mix, add flour alternating with buttermilk in two batches. If you want to bite into apple pieces, add one Golden Delicious apple, prepared as said above, to the batter. Spoon this mixture into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pecan-sugar-cinnamon topping. Bake for 20–23 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool them on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Wrap each muffin in a plastic wrap individually and freeze them in an airtight container.

Apple Crunch Muffins

This is my entry for WBB – Spice it up, Nandita’s brainchild and hosted by Trupti this month.

36 comments:

Swapna said...

Wow..what a shot! I and hubby spend the last 5 mins admiring it. Lovely recipe too!

Viji said...

Beautiful muffins Suganya. As you said there is no harm in treating yourself once in a while. Viji

Coffee said...

I loved this idea of apple sauce!!! Substituting it for fat is great! The pic is very tempting. :)

bee said...

great recipe. for chocoloate cakes, appleasuce can be replaced with prune puree for a richer flavour.

Anonymous said...

Muffins look delicious Suganya! :)

TNL said...

That is such a delightful flavor for muffins...I get tired of the usual blueberry/banana ones....I'd much rather have this!
Thanks!
:)

trupti

indosungod said...

Lovely looking muffins. Yes butter is what makes me run away from eating muffins everyday. I might try these with some whole wheat flour that I have

Richa said...

those look so inviting, beautiful pic :)
applesauce does work so well!

Aruna said...

The Picture looks soo real :) Love the muffins.

Nabeela said...

I freeze any leftover muffins too...just thawing them in the fridge overnight and then eating them cold is blissssss :)

Kajal said...

What a delicious muffins.....mouthwatering....in morning with this apple taste muffins..... feel like haven.:)

Cynthia said...

Suganya, these are fabulous, and look at that photograph, it's like something out of a glossy food magazine.

Suganya said...

Swapna, Am happy that you like the picture.

Viji, You are right. I don't find guilty eating this too..

Coffee, give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Bee, I have read that tip somewhere. I haven't had a chance to get prune puree. Donno where to find it. Have any suggestions?

Thanks Linda, Trupti.

Indosungod, Initially i didn't know that muffins can be healthier. After a few try, healthy muffins were real :) I would suggest that you beat the egg whites to soft peaks if you are using whole wheat flour, for better rise.

Richa, Aruna.. Thanks

Nabeela, That sounds yum too. Anything cold is agreeable in this weather :)

Kajal, do try them. You may like 'em.

Cynthia, Thanks for those kind words.

Bharathy said...

Hmm..So speedy posts..one in a couple of days..and I missed your recent ones..
Fine Royal muffins...
Nice to see those traditional recipes of murungai ilai poriyal and Vazhaikkai Podimas!!!Great recipes..Greater shots..Perfect entries..!!!

Anonymous said...

ohhh my....never made muffins before...now that i am in love with my oven...maybe i will try it...great picture...thanks for sharing

Anonymous said...

Your muffins looks delicious.

Anonymous said...

I just love muffins of any kind. This is a good one. Can you post without eggs please.

evolvingtastes said...

Suganya, that's a gorgeous photo. Are you a photographer? Your pictures are way better than average.

Mandira said...

the muffin looks fabulous. I could eat it right this very minute!

ushaprashanth said...

Hi suganya!
Muffins looks great!!!!

Bong Mom said...

My friend does this "apple sauce" thing, I have never tried yet. The pic is awesome...the rack looks as good as the muffins :)

Dr. Soumya Bhat said...

Hey suganaya,
Lovely cupcakes.May i have one.Just look at my mouth watering.Lovely pics too why do you tempt me so much with these wonderful recipes?

Jyothi said...

Hi Suganya! muffins looks yummy and great dear. The pic is very much tempting as usual. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe.

A, mama of twins said...

this looks yum. i have a bottle of apple-apricot sauce that I have been musing about.. great idea on the muffin.. stay tuned for my version.

Suganya said...

Bharathy - Thanks. I had to send entries to so many events and had to do them by this week. Thtz the reason for speedy posts :)

Dilip - You are an expert now. Go ahead, try 'em.

Thanks Cooking Ninja

Hima, I will post eggless version too. Give me some time:)

ET, No am just a learner. You can see some errors in my photos too, if u closely watch ;)

Thanks Usha and Mandira

Sandeepa, one of the reasons i made these muffins are to use that new cooling rack i bought :D

Soumya, You can make them yrself. They are easy. Go ahead. Indulge!

Jyothi, Thanks for yr kind words.

Archana, Do let me know how they turn out with apple-apricot sauce. Waiting for yr version ;;)

Mishmash ! said...

Gorgeous and elegant shot....!!Never seen a muffin liner looking so glossy and pretty :) Applesauce is a very good idea and i learnt it very recently !

Shn

Ramya's Mane Adige said...

oh wow!!! lovely looking muffins! Thanx for the recipe

Anonymous said...

this looks so good suganya. I need to venture into muffins

Vanamala Hebbar said...

Hi Suganya

Nice collection of recipes ... beautiful photos. First time iam visiting..i got ur blog in google
Muffins looks delicious ...

Vini K said...

Wow Suganya,what a nice picture!apple muffins look great.Got to try these sometime!:)

Vaidya Aparna S. Pattewar said...

wooooooooow looks g8 .
hey thax for sharing this :-)

Raaga said...

I love the apple cinnamon combination. Am going to try this :-) Can I make apple sauce at home?

Suganya said...

You can make applesauce at home Raaga. But I am happy with the organic ones available in the stores.

Mishmash ! said...

Tried this and turned out well...liked it coz of its lightness. didnt have pecans so used almonds.....thank you for sharing the recipe :)

Shn

him said...

Hi dear
very very nice recipe,
i tried this recipe but my muffins didnt come out as good as urs, in my muffins from inside its very soft n nice, but on top it was hard n cracked, can u pls suggest me what to do?

thanks,
niky

Suganya said...

Dear Niky, it sounds like an issue with baking duration or temperature. You may have baked the muffins a little longer. Or your oven may have been at a higher temperature. Some ovens are hotter than you what you set them at. Also, if you had made the muffins smaller, you may have to reduce the baking time.

I didn't have any of these problems. They were moist, soft and froze very well. I hope you get the same results too. Happy baking!

Post a Comment